In the telephone and electric utility industries, cables and other items on wooden poles are installed, maintained and repaired by linemen (male or female) who climb the poles by the use of climbers strapped to their boots and legs. Such climbers consist of leg irons to which are secured sharp gaffs which are dug into the wood of the pole by a lineman to thereby permit him to ascend the pole or to descend it. Both to prevent injury to personnel by the gaffs and to preserve the sharpness of their cutting edges, it is desirable that climber gaffs when not in use be protected by guards.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,870,947 issued Jan. 27, 1959 to A. R. Hendry discloses for those purposes a gaff guard comprising a body composed of rubber or of certain types of plastics, such body being in the form of a slipper. The toe of the body has formed therein a socket for receiving the gaff, such socket being reinforced by a metallic tubular triangular cross-sectional insert embedded in the material of the body to be separated from the socket cavity by a layer of such material forming the inner wall of such cavity. The heel of the body provides means for mounting the guard on the leg iron of the climber. In one embodiment, such mounting means consists of a pair of strap portions disposed on transversely opposite sides of the heel and adapted to fold around the leg iron and then lock together at their ends by the expedient of a dove tail joint which such ends are shaped to form. In another embodiment, such mounting means is a metallic clip member having a base embedded in the material of such body and having, also, a pair of spring arms projecting outwards from transversely opposite sides of such base and adapted to engage transversely opposite sides of the leg iron.
The described Hendry gaff guard is wasteful of material and is not likely to be durable or rugged in use. Further, since the portion of the slipper shaped guard which joins its toe and heel is disposed in use on the outside of the gaff and is thus fully exposed to blows, the guard is subject to being very easily dislodged. Still further, the guard offers no way for avoiding dulling of the cutting edges of the gaff by dirt and grit accumulating in the socket of the guard or corrosion of the gaff and its cutting edges by water accumulated and retained therein.
Other gaff guards known to the prior art are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,497,710 issued Feb. 14, 1950 in the name of C. N. Wollensack and in U.S. Pat. No. 1,931,823 issued Oct. 24, 1933 to G. E. Hushour.